EA, Paramount announce 'Godfather II' game
Electronic Arts and Paramount Pictures have released the first details of The Godfather II, the video game.
(Credit: Electronic Arts)Update (10:52 a.m.): This story has been corrected to reflect that the suit filed in June against Paramount Pictures was filed by Anthony Puzo, Mario Puzo's son. Mario Puzo died in 1999.
It looks like Electronic Arts and Paramount Pictures have gotten the don's blessing, after all.
EA on Friday announced the first real details of Godfather II, the video game, that it will be making in conjunction with Paramount Pictures.
And that seems to mean that the movie studio has been able to work out a deal with Godfather author Mario Puzo's son, Anthony Puzo, after he sued Paramount in June, alleging that he had not been paid more than $1 million he was owed, based on the first version of the game.
The new game expands on the story line spelled out in that earlier game. This time around, according to a release from EA, "After being promoted by Michael Corleone to don of New York, players expand to new cities, as they build up their families through extorting businesses, monopolizing illegal-crime rings, and defeating new families in an effort to become the most powerful mob family in America."
EA did not announce a release date for the game.
One notable element of the first Godfather game was that EA put a significant amount of resources into reverse-engineering the art from the films.
That is, because Paramount wasn't able to provide the game's producers with the original high-resolution digital assets for dozens of characters from the films, EA put several artists on the job watching the films over and over again, in order to re-create much of its look and feel.
It's not known whether EA will employ the same methods this time around, or if it will be able to take advantage of the assets it created last time around.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel.
